Locusts, hold the wild honey

In the course of their remarkable life-cycle, cicadas come to the surface only every seventeen years. This is the year. Going along with that new culinary trend I blogged about, some people tare planning on eating them, including a frozen custard stand in Alexandria that will feature a flavor called Cicada Crunch. The link in the Washington Post gives advice from a chef on how to prepare them. (Take off their legs and wings and sautee them in butter.) I guess if it’s good enough for John the Baptist. . . .

Meanwhile, the UN has published a document calling on the world’s nations to start utilizing insects as a nutritious and environmentally-sound food supply. Details why after the jump.

From the Washington Post:

A new United Nations report titled “Edible insects: Future prospects for food and feed security” says that at least 2 billion people on Earth eat insects and that they are a nutritious, environmentally sound way to feed people.

The report, published by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, was the first time that the FAO documented all aspects of the insect food and feed value chain, and includes original research from around the world.

The environmental benefits of rearing insects for food and feed are founded on the high feed conversion efficiency of insects. Crickets, for example, require only 2 kilograms of feed for every 1 kilogram of bodyweight gain. In addition, insects can be reared on organic side-streams (including human and animal waste) and can help reduce environmental contamination. Insects are reported to emit fewer greenhouse gases and less ammonia than cattle or pigs, and they require significantly less land and water than cattle rearing. Compared with mammals and birds, insects may also pose less risk of transmitting zoonotic infections to humans, livestock and wildlife, although this topic requires further research.

Insects are a highly nutritious and healthy food source with high fat, protein, vitamin, fibre and mineral content. The nutritional value of edible insects is highly variable because of the wide range of edible insect species. Even within the same group of species, nutritional value may differ depending on the metamorphic stage of the insect, the habitat in which it lives, and its diet. For example, the composition of unsaturated omega-3 and six fatty acids in mealworms is comparable with that in fish (and higher than in cattle and pigs), and the protein, vitamin and mineral content of mealworms is similar to that in fish and meat.

The report also says that governments should promote the creation of a new sector that develop insects as an alternative to conventional food and feed industries, including the creation of incentives aimed at the private sector for investment and technical development.

I am not saying there is anything wrong with this. Many cultures, including the ancient Israelites, have made at least certain kinds of insects part of their cuisine. But I believe that, in general, when a person finds something is repellant, we should not try break down his or her inhibitions.

Professor of Literature at Patrick Henry College, the Director of the Cranach Institute at Concordia Theological Seminary, a columnist for World Magazine and TableTalk, and the author of 18 books on different facets of Christianity & Culture.